2007 Re-cap

2007 has been an interesting year both with my personal and business life. Although I’ve done a lot less traveling this year, this hasn’t kept me from being super busy. This time last year I was living in a shack with no running water in the middle of rural Thailand – Drinking cheap whiskey, eating sticky rice and singing karaoke with 20 other locals are treasured memories – Some of the best times I’ve had were spent there. Then I spent some time going back and fourth into Laos – Getting to see how the locals live there was also a great experience.

As for business, I’ve closed an office and I’ve re-opened one with my life savings… well, all my web sites are on the line if it doesn’t work… which is a little worse than using my life savings as I’ve worked on some of these sites for 7 years!

For the first time is 2 years, I’ve now got myself a nice pad which actually feels like a place I can call “home” – It’s amazing what a little bit of extra money/furnishing can do to make an apartment feel homely!

That’s another thing I’m taking a lot more seriously now, is financial security. I’m always hearing of guys living in Bangkok on peanuts… and not willing to do anything about it, apart from moan. I’m determined to not end up like one of those guys. You don’t get rich doing a 40 hour week, a good (and rich) friend once said to me.

This year was also my first experience of Christmas without the family – it sucked. I had a nice meal at the Intercontinental Hotel, but it wasn’t the same – Christmas is about family, and without family, Christmas seemed like another ordinary day.

As for the year ahead… well I’m going to start the year by launching my new blog design and dedicate more time on the blog. I’ll also launch 5 on-line magazines, along with some third party SEO stuff and build a sister company Base Sites – selling fully loaded content rich web sites that are ready to promote. I also want to implement a management team at work, so the business is not so dependant on myself.

I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to travel as much as I would like in 2008, although I will try and get in as much traveling as possible. 2008 is a year for working, and building up sites that will provide me with residual income, so I can move onto other things later in the year.

I also want to return home for an extended amount of time to spend with my family, over the last 2 years I’ve only had a total of 15 days, spread out over 4 trips. A week or two sitting in The Bell garden pub, with friends/family and some lovely British weather would be great.

What have you got planned for 2008?